Asking the experts about U.S. soccer

U.S. women's soccer is at the summit. When will men's arrive? We asked the experts.

Copyright 2013: Houston Chronicle |
April 30, 2013

Confident predictions of U.S. supremacy in soccer - football to the rest of the world - have been made with great regularity since at least the beginning of the 1970s.

In those early, pre-Title IX days, when women's sports were a national afterthought, soccer supremacy was assumed to mean world supremacy in the men's game. Was there any other game?

Well, yes, there was and is.

Ladies first. The global superpower that is U.S. women's soccer in 2013 was birthed by act of Congress on June 23, 1972, with the passage of Title IX, the groundbreaking civil rights legislation that eliminated discrimination on the basis of gender on playing fields, tennis and basketball courts, ice rinks, in gymnasiums and swimming pools throughout the U.S. public education system. A whole constellation of female stars in sports from swimming and diving to gymnastics and softball was born out of Title IX.

And they have thrived, not least on the nation's soccer pitches. Soccer celebrities like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain have encouraged and inspired a generation of young women to "go for the gold" in the "beautiful game," and excel they have. The U.S. women's national team has won two World Cups, four Olympic Gold medals and today is ranked No. 1 internationally by FIFA, the world governing body of soccer.

And U.S. men? Theirs' has been a journey with some high points, but more than its share of disappointments. When, if ever, will those long-ago predictions come true?

We had the opportunity to ask two experts Monday in a lively editorial board conversation with Héctor González-Iñarritu, director of Mexico's national soccer teams at all levels, and Jose Manuel "Chepo" de la Torre, coach of Mexico's national team. "Chepo" is a former player whose family has a rich history in Mexican soccer.

The two men were in Houston in advance of an exhibition game, called a "friendly," with African power Nigeria, to be held at Reliant Stadium on May 31. Houston is friendly territory for Mexico's national team, with 70-80 percent of crowds at Reliant waving Mexico's tricolor and rooting for the Mexican side.

Nigeria also has a large, soccer-mad expatriate population here.

How does U.S. men's soccer make its way to the elite level in venues such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup?

It is a given that this nation has the athletic talent, the facilities and a growing base of soccer interest. What is the missing ingredient?

González-Iñarritu offered this straightforward observation: "You are the best in the world at identifying athletes at a young age and [directing] them into basketball, football and baseball. But you don't do the same for soccer."

When will that happen? "When the money is there."

Until then, U.S. men will be competitive but unlikely to reach the summit. There's a second reason why this is so.

U.S. youth and high school programs are on a level with international programs, "Chepo" observes, but they would improve if the U.S. instituted a playoff system for juniors that pitted state champions in regional matches and, in turn, in national championship tournaments.

This, the famed coach asserts, would better identify the country's top players and help create a development system for the U.S. national team.

One wild card has had an impact on U.S. soccer that could not have been anticipated in 1970: immigration, especially, Hispanic immigration.

We in Houston see it firsthand on soccer pitches across the city and in the huge turnouts for appearances here by Mexico's national team.

If and when it does come, U.S. soccer supremacy likely will have a different face than early prognosticators could ever have imagined.